100 days of fun

February 16, 2012

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's sure to be -- Union Elementary School's 100 Days of School celebration.

With a multitude of activities to honor the schools' 100th day of classes, students were sure to find a favorite in the visit from the family and staff of Cocca's Pizza, who spent the afternoon helping them make pizzas. After every student had assisted, hot and tasty pizza reappeared in record time with pies for everyone.

According to Union Elementary School teacher Gina Chiaro, students celebrated 100 days of school in a number of ways. "We had a lot of fun," she said, going on to explain that her students began their day making crowns, decorating them with strips of paper with ten dots each. They also made a pretend pizza, adorning it with 100 pieces of paper pepperoni, created a word rainbow, and assembled 100 fruit loop necklaces.

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Who knows, if they try hard enough, maybe Noah Homrighausen and George Maillis can fit 100 slices of pepperoni on that pizza. The two were deep in concentration as they assembled the perfect pie.

Let’s see, with four girls, two hands each, eight hands combined, making four whole pizzas with eight slices each… Emma Ebie, Ava Sabrin, Katelyn Happ, and Sydney Henderson spent a recent day celebrating 100 days of school while learning a little Math along the way.

And that’s the way you make the perfect pizza dough, according to Union Elementary students Gavin Catheline, Jason DePascale, and Isabella Marrie, who followed the lead of the Cocca family and staff members present for the school’s 100 Days of School celebration on Thursday, Feb. 8.

Union Elementary School student Lyndsey Thompson enjoys the end result of her hard work at pizza making at the conclusion of the school’s 100 Days of School celebration.

Setting a fine example for Union Elementary student Dominic Elia, Tina Cocca demonstrates as he follows her lead for the perfect pizza pie. Also on hand to assist the students for the event were Steve Cocca, Angel Gabriele, and Matt Scarnechia.

"We counted by ones, fives, and tens today," said Chiaro, adding that they managed to tie Math, Language Arts and Science into their day-long celebration.

Even the school's ongoing Make-A-wish Foundation fundraiser benefited from the event, as, students donated 100 pennies each, and according to school principal Mike Masucci, Cocca donated the $100 cost of the pizza funfest back to the cause.

With a 100 Days of School celebration that included day-long fun-filled activities and culminated with the visit from Cocca's, it would appear that whether back in old Napoli or the gymnasium of Union Elementary School, when you have kids and you have a big pizza pie - that's amore.